BBC star fights for ivory ban... then puts 265 pieces on sale
HE IS the BBC television star and celebrity auctioneer who as a patron of the Born Free Foundation has publicly campaigned to ban the sale of ivory.
But antiques expert James Lewis – a regular on Flog It! and Bargain Hunt – is still selling items containing ivory at the auctioneers he owns. Yet in 2016, Lewis announced that he would voluntarily stop all ivory sales at his auction house while the Government was finalising its UK Ivory Bill.
In what appears to be very much at odds with his stated views, his firm Bamfords Auctioneers & Valuers has listed 265 such objects for sale since he made the pledge.
Among the lots in the current sales catalogue is a 19th Century statuette of the Pied Piper of Hamelin in solid ivory, expected to make up to £1,000. Previous sales include a George III gold-mounted ivory toothpick-case for £80, and a carved Japanese ornament sold for £110.
He had earlier said he had always appreciated the beauty in such objects but had realised that the antique ivory market was fuelling demand.
The Ivory Act coming into force later this year will be one of the world’s toughest pieces of legislation protecting wildlife products. One of the five exemptions to the law relates to antiques containing less than ten per cent ivory. But some of Lewis’s pieces are of solid ivory and will not be exempt.
A former staff member from Bamfords in Derby told The Mail on Sunday: ‘James likes to present himself as a wildlife campaigner and animallover, but when it comes to a sale it’s difficult to turn anything away. He’s a businessman first and foremost. ‘ It’s surprising to see him boasting about his work for Born Free and the expertise he brought to Parliament while they worked on the ivory ban.’ Born Free reports that elephant populations have declined by almost one-third in the past decade and that about 20,000 are killed each year for their tusks.
Last night Mr Lewis said: ‘We sell around 1,000 lots a week so I can’t recall every item. If some solid ivory has slipped through and into our catalogue, all I can do is say I’m sorry and I would hate it to undermine everything I try to do to support the protection of elephants.
‘That’s my passion, as anyone who knows me will tell you.’
He said he gave £40,000 to savethe-elephant charities in 2014 and continues to do everything he can to stop poaching, adding: ‘If I have ever sold a solid ivory object since announcing my own voluntary ban in 2016, or some pieces have slipped through, and I hope that hasn’t happened, I now feel deep regret.’
A spokesman for the Born Free Foundation said: ‘We urge all dealers, auctioneers and members of the public to comply with both the letter and spirit of the Act by desisting from trading in ivory items.’